Tag Archives: walkable

Do you know who in your neighborhood is running a business right here in Eastwood? Are they people who might also be hiring people who live in our neighborhood? Doesn’t it make sense to make our purchases from them instead of from an out-of-state chain?

I just culled this from the October newsletter sent out by Syracuse First, a non-profit organization promoting the development of a local living economy:

Studies have shown that for every $100 spent at a local-independent business $73 STAYS IN THE COMMUNITY versus $43 at a non locally-owned business. If we were to commit a small 10% shift in spending in Onondaga County we could erase the debt, create over a 1000 new jobs, reduce our collective impact on the environment and generate $130 million in new economic activity. All without a single taxpayer dollar or spending more then we already do. It really is that simple.

Some fifteen years ago, I happened upon Roadside Magazine, which was then publishing a small review of diners. Their byline was so appealing, I started using it as a signature on my emails:

Recipe for an American Renaissance:Eat in diners. Ride trains. Shop on Main Street. Put a porch on your house. Live in a walkable community.

I’d like to add: shop in locally-owned shops on Main Street. We’ll all be better for it.

Recipe for an American Renaissance:Eat in diners. Ride trains. Shop on Main Street. Put a porch on your house. Live in a walkable community.

“A gas station used to be there.” This is true of the corner of James and Midler. A gas station used to be on approximately every corner in Eastwood, based on some comments I heard at TNT Monday night. And that might have been true. But saying “a gas station used to be there” as justification for a new one being put in at the same location is like saying “An oil city used to be there” as justification for putting in even bigger, taller, brighter oil tanks at the northern entrance to Syracuse. Just because we used to do it doesn’t mean that it necessarily is or is not a good idea. Let’s debate this one on its own merits, not the merits of a period of cheap, plentiful oil, now fast waning. Continue reading A gas station used to be there→

I am always amazed at the sheer courage it takes people using wheelchairs to navigate the streets of Eastwood. In the summer, they have to work their way up and over or around broken or heaved sidewalks, sidewalks made narrow by encroaching grass and dirt, and cars parked over the sidewalks. And in the winter, just one house on a block with its sidewalk made impassible by snow means anyone trying to get from point A to point B must then walk in the street. Continue reading Demand safer streets!→